Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Architecture of Strength

Strength training produces an increased force production adaptation, the nature of which is "architectural" -- it requires, and thus causes, the construction of new tissue within the muscles, without which increased force production is ultimately not possible.

When your squat goes up, the weight on the bar has increased, and your having added weight to the bar sets in motion a series of events that cause the muscles to grow. This process takes a while, but can go on for many years. This is why lifters who take a 5-year layoff are still stronger than runners who have never lifted, and still stronger then they would have been had they never trained.

The process of growing new tissue causes permanent changes in the muscles and the neuromuscular system, and even the more transient effects of strength training, like some of the weight gain, are very easily recovered in a short period of time because of the permanent architectural changes that have taken place over the longer time frame of the process of going from novice to intermediate/advanced.